Ed wasn't able to get Winry to give back the ring once he'd put it on her finger. She kept insisting that she would take it off and give it to him if he got down on one knee and asked for it, but she refused to let him go back to hiding the rings in his pocket every day. She went on and on about how sweet it was, how she loved that he had learned metalworking and also loved that she could wear a little piece of his automail. On the one hand, Ed found himself feeling a little proud. He had actually done it and actually had a romantic gesture go over well. On the other hand... He was pretty sure Winry wasn't supposed to keep the ring until he'd actually done a proposal correctly.

Which made him all the more confused when he noticed how little she was actually wearing it. Why would she insist on him letting her keep the ring if she didn't even wear it constantly? So the next time he saw the ring on her finger, he hung a little closer to her than usual, trying to catch what it was that would make her take it off again.

The answer was almost boring in how mundane it was, though, with him catching her sliding the ring off right as she sat down to work on automail. Of course a mechanic couldn't get away with wearing a metal ring while she was working. And of course she had a tendency to work for so long and so hard that she didn't even remember the ring by the time she was getting up again. So the ring partially just lived on her workbench, even though she protested every time Ed even so much as eyed the thing.

He decided to count his blessings that he'd had a chance to see that rings didn't work well for Winry, and he decided to chalk it up as a loss to a rough draft. Sure, the idea was cute, and it was apparently sentimental enough to make Winry downright protective of the damn thing. But how much did that count for if the ring didn't fit in well with her life? No, he had to find something that would still mean something, but that she would be able to keep wearing even while she worked. Maybe a necklace? Ed figured he could find a way to make a chain and then she could put the ring on it, but when he brought up the concept to Winry, she made a face and said she didn't like the look of rings on necklaces. So that idea was out, apparently.

Still, when they were going back to Resembool to meet up with Al, at least then Winry made sure she was wearing the ring. Which was of course the first thing every single nosy Resembool neighbor noticed. Ed sat back and decided to see how exactly Winry answered when someone asked about the ring, just to see how she explained the whole thing.

"So when's the wedding?"

"Oh, we haven't decided yet," Winry said, linking her arm through Ed's with a grin. He couldn't seem to figure out what exactly was happening. She was talking like they were already engaged and on to the wedding planning stage? But wasn't he supposed to have pulled off a decent proposal first?

"Well, you two make a lovely couple. We all knew someday the two of you would end up together!"

Ed could feel Winry grinding her teeth even as she smiled and waved goodbye to the neighbor, and he squeezed her arm.

"I'm going to get so tired of that," she muttered, leaning her head against Ed's shoulder. "Everyone's basically going to act like we were destined to marry one another, like we didn't go through hell and back to choose one another. Like we don't keep choosing each other every single day."

Ed grinned at that and laced his fingers together with hers. There was something satisfying to know that she was choosing him all over again every day. It felt like proof that he had to be doing something right. Even if it sometimes felt like he wasn't doing anything right.

"You know, take it from a professional asshole," Ed said with a smirk. "You don't have to answer someone's questions nicely just because they asked you."

"Edward," Winry gasped, her face adopting a smirk that mirrored his. "How rude of you. What would your mother say?"

"She'd congratulate me for remembering what she taught me!" Ed laughed as he spoke, pulling away from Winry enough to clutch as his sides his words came out in gasps. "No one hated nosy Resembool neighbors more than my mom! Dad would invite them in for tea and tell them all kinds of stuff, and mom would just sit and glare!"

"Well, if it has the Trisha Elric seal of approval, you know it's gotta be good," Winry said with a laugh as she leaned into his touch. Ed grinned and squeezed her against him, wondering when he had gotten to the point of being able to talk so casually about his mom without feeling like he was going to break.

The next time a neighbor looked pointedly at Winry's ring was when she and Ed were at the farmer's market, stocking up on fresh vegetables for Al's arrival. Ed could tell the instant Winry remembered the Trisha Elric Approved™ method of dealing with neighbors, because her eyes glinted with something evil and delighted for the second she glanced at Ed. She wove her arm through his and practically dragged him up to the stall while he waited in both terror and anticipation for whatever was coming next.

"Winry! You're back from Rush Valley!"

"I am, Helen," Winry said, and Ed had to bite his lip to keep from laughing at how her voice positively dripped with sweetness. How could anyone not see from a mile away that she was clearly up to no good? She then turned and put a hand on Ed's chest. "And I'm sure you've met my husband?"

"Husband?" Helen squeaked, her eyes giving Ed a once-over as if he hadn't spent an entire childhood picking up monthly vegetable boxes from her farm. "Did I miss the engagement and wedding announcements?"

"You know, I thought we'd forgotten something," Wiry said, tapping her chin and looking over at Ed with a frown. "Do you think it was the engagement?"

"It must have been the engagement," Ed laughed. "Because I definitely remember a beautiful wedding ceremony where we promised to love each other forever and ever."

"Ah, yeah, I remember that too," Winry nodded. Ed found himself marveling at how easily she could keep her face straight for the sake of the joke. She sighed and shook her ponytail over her shoulder. "It must have been the engagement, then. Oh well. Whaddya say, Ed? Wanna get married?"

"Eh, sure, my schedule's free for the next couple decades, why not?"

"There!" Winry said with a grin, turning her attention back to Helen, who was staring at the two of them with wide eyes. "Now that we haven't forgotten anything, we can be properly married!"

Ed and Winry walked away from the interaction leaning into one another with raucous laughter as if they were seven years old and playing pranks again. He almost expected to find his mom waiting at home for them, giving a half-hearted lecture on pranks before slipping them a plate of warm cookies.

His mom would have definitely approved of him choosing to spend his life with Winry.

"You do realize that the entire town is going to think I got you pregnant or something, right?" Ed said, nudging at Winry. "I mean, they're going to think we had this rushed wedding without telling anyone, of course they're going to think we're trying to hide a pregnancy."

"Let them," Winry scoffed. "Maybe it'll keep them busy gossiping and out of my hair for nine months before they start asking more questions."

"Well, you've gone and told one person in town that we're already married, which means you might as well have just announced it on speakers across the entire town," Ed said with a laugh. "Which means now everyone is going to think we're already married. Which means we're going to have to get married just to keep up appearances."

"Oh no," Winry said in a deadpan voice, looking away from him and instead focusing on the side of the road with a half-concealed smirk. "How terrible."

Al nearly had a heart attack when he came into town and found everyone, including Ed and Winry, talking about the two of them as if they were already married. He managed to get halfway through something that was part lecture and part demanding of answers before Ed was able to actually explain what was going on. He ended up not being able to give the advice Ed had hoped for, instead frowning and asking why Ed was still focusing on the proposal when he and Winry were calling one another husband and wife. Wasn't it a little more important to focus on, oh, say, the wedding they'd entirely skipped over?

Nope, apparently Ed was on his own for actually figuring out some kind of romantic proposal that would actually blow Winry's socks off. Where he didn't stick his foot in his mouth. And with some sort of replacement for a ring.

He would figure it out, he assured himself. For sure. Eventually. Somehow.

In the meantime, Ed found himself over at the Rockbell house more often than not, even finding himself falling asleep next to Winry on the sofa a couple times. But then a couple times turned into half the week, which eventually turned into every night and Ed practically having taken over the sofa.

"You're still here?" Pinako commented one night as she passed through the living room, looking over the sight of Ed reading while Winry slept against his arm. He looked up at Pinako with a frown, and she snorted at him. "Why don't you two just go to bed and let me use my sofa as a sofa again?"

"Granny!" Ed hissed, closing his book with a soft snap.

"I don't know what you're so worried about," she said with a creaking laugh. "Everyone already thinks you're married."

"But we're not actually married yet—"

"You seem married enough to me," she said, nodding at Winry on Ed's shoulder. "It's not like the government can control that with a piece of paper. Your mom knew that much."

She went off to bed at that, but Ed stayed awake, staring at the book in his hands as he mind spun. He had been so busy just... Being comfortable with Winry that he hadn't really thought about the fact that it had evolved beyond just a joke at some point. The entire town really did think they were married, and he and Winry weren't in any kind of rush to correct them otherwise.

Ed glanced down at Winry curled up against his shoulder. When he brushed her hair out of her face, she sighed and smiled, hugging his arm a little tighter, and he couldn't resist pressing a kiss against her forehead.

"You're not going, are you?" Winry mumbled, readjusting to crack open an eye at him.

"No, I'm not going anywhere, Win," he said. He couldn't help but smile at her and the way her hair fell over her face as she made confused tired expressions at him. "I was just wondering if... maybe you'd be comfier in your bed."

"Mm, no," Winry said, grinning and wrapping her arms around his waist, scooting another inch closer to him. "You're here, not there. So I'm comfy here."

It suddenly stuck him just how right Pinako was, that they pretty much already were married in the ways that mattered. He knew exactly how she liked her coffee in the morning because he would make it for her and then sit and chat while she worked on automail. That future he had once imagined where they could dance around one another's morning routines was now their everyday ritual, and somehow they still weren't married.

"Hey, Winry," he whispered, and she mumbled some sort of affirmation while snuggling against him. "What would you say if I said we should just go to the courthouse and get married?"

"I'd say it's closed at this time of night." Winry let out a tired laugh and shook her head against him.

"Okay, well, in the morning."

"After breakfast," she said with a yawn. "And make sure Al's coming. I don't want him to be upset that he missed it."

"I'm serious, Win."

She sat up at that, fully opening her eyes and fixing him with a long stare. "So am I."

It suddenly struck Ed as he looked at Winry just how much she had changed from that first phone call where he had stammered his way through a love confession. Somewhere along the way she had gone from insisting he needed to try again and do it "right" to being okay with running off to the courthouse when no one was looking. Was that because of him? Had he just worn her down with his terrible proposals until she had given up?

And somehow, for whatever reason, she still saw him as worth her time. She was still there, still agreeing to marry him, even if all that meant was running off to the courthouse. He had spent an entire lifetime knowing her, so he knew how she had once dreamed about what her wedding would be like, what she would wear, who she would invite. And somehow he had ended up making her not see the point to dreaming for all of those things. And why? Because he was such a romantic screw-up he didn't even know how to propose right?

And yet she was still choosing him. Why was she still choosing him?

"Ed." There was a soft voice and then a soft hand against his cheek. "Ed, are you crying?"

He almost instinctively snapped that no he wasn't, thank you very much, but something in the back of his mind registered that this was Winry. She wasn't asking to make fun of him or to say he shouldn't cry. She was genuinely confused, and he had to find a way to explain, somehow.

"Why?"

"Why what?" Even without looking at her face he could tell she was making that confused frown she always did.

"Why me?" He let out a slow breath and forced himself to make his eyes connect with hers. But he wasn't met with any judgement or anger there, just genuine concern, and somehow that almost hurt even more. Here he had not only made a million mistakes, but now he'd made her sad too, and she was still worried about him. "Why would you pick me? I just screw everything up. I can't even propose right. Proposals are important, and I messed that up for you, and now you'll never have a normal proposal to remember, or a cute story to tell our kids, and it's all my fault, and—"

"Oh, Ed," Winry whispered, squeezing her hands against his face. It sounded like her heart was breaking, and the thought of that made Ed make a choked sound. He'd gone and upset her again, because he couldn't even cope with his own feelings. "Ed, it's not about the proposal. It was never about the proposal."

She leaned forward and kissed him then, and something about it felt different than it usually did. He kissed her back with a sort of desperation he didn't normally have, cupping her face with his hands and pressing himself into her. He was dangerous and loving him was sure to lead to nothing but trouble, but he couldn't help but desperately wish she would stick around anyway. Did that make him an even worse person than he already was?

"I'm sorry," Winry breathed when they broke apart. Ed frowned, ready to tell her that she did not have to apologize for kissing him like that, but before he could, she spoke again. "I'm sorry that I made you think the proposal was that important. I just... I guess I just wanted to be sure you wouldn't leave."

The words slowly clicked into place in Ed's mind, and something in his heart cracked a little. Oh. Oh. Winry seemed to notice the flash of recognition in his eyes, and she leaned in to kiss him again right as he was opening his mouth to apologize. Damn, she sure knew an easy way to get him to shut up.

"You didn't do anything wrong," she whispered when they pulled apart. She was still so close to him that Ed could feel her breath sliding over his lips. "I just always grew up seeing other girls acting like bigger proposals meant a guy loved them more, and I guess I bought into that at some point. But I know better now."

Ed frowned. "What did I even do to change your mind?"

Winry pulled away a little further from him, and he almost wanted to pout and protest.

"Do you remember when you were in the hospital?" She spoke in a soft tone, reaching out and putting a hand on his chest, right towards the spot where he knew there was a divot in his skin from a missing screw. He was half tempted to sass back at her by asking which time in the hospital she was referring to, but he knew which one she meant. The time that had gotten seared into both their minds because the terror had been different, because they had both thought they were past stabbings and hospital visits.

"Yeah, what about it?" Ed whispered.

"That's what changed my mind." Winry's smile was soft, and Ed could see the tears poking out at the corners of her eyes through it. Ed raised an eyebrow at her.

"Me... Almost dying changed your mind? What, because any proposal is better than—?"

"No, Ed!" Winry snorted and rolled her eyes. "When we talked, you morbid squirrel! I asked why you kept messing up proposals, and you said something like... You loved me so much that your brain would just immediately jump to marriage and make it impossible to keep your foot out of your mouth."

Ed fought back a smirk. "Somehow, I think even that is giving me more credit than I actually deserve."

"You know what I mean," Winry said with a laugh. "I just realized, you know... That's what matters. You were messing up the proposals, but the love was still there. And the love is what makes the promise strong, not the proposal."

"Oh." Ed frowned. "But... But what about when people ask you how I proposed? What about when our kids want to know what grand gesture I did to win over their mom? We don't have a good story to tell when—"

He was cut off by the sound of Winry laughing, and he looked at her with a frown.

"Ed, are you serious? We already have an amazing story!"

"Huh?"

"Seriously?" Winry laughed harder, stuck somewhere between exasperated and genuinely amused. "Okay, picture this. 'Hey, Winry, you and Ed are cute together. How'd he propose anyway?' 'Ah, well, I'm glad you asked. You see, he loved me so much that he actually forgot how words worked and blurted it out without thinking.'"

Ed could feel the blood rushing to his cheeks, and he wished he could scrub it away. "That's not—"

"'Oh, and then, get this. He loved me so much he decided to try again. And he got so nervous he stuck his foot in his mouth again! And again and again!'"

"Okay, okay, I get it!" Ed said, laughing and grabbing her waist. "I've been eating a lot of shoes over the past four years, you don't need to rub it in!"

"Come on, Ed, we all know you've been eating shoes much longer than that."

Winry laughed then, and Ed couldn't help but just stare at her for a minute, awestruck at this person who was somehow willing to choose him despite everything. He wondered what he could have possibly done to deserve someone with so much grace and kindness, someone who knew his flaws and still understood the him underneath everything. Someone that amazing and smart and gracious and awesome would choose him, him, of all people.

No maybes about it. Ed knew this was what love felt like.

He was the one to lean forward and kiss her that time, desperate to have her closer, desperate to pull her against him and bury himself in that little cocoon that was just the two of them. He was feeling so much love for her it was like he was going to be ripped apart. Or maybe he was being ripped apart. Deconstruction before reconstruction, after all. If he wanted to build a new life with her, first he had to pull apart the person he used to be before he could transmute himself. Maybe that was why love hurt so much.

"One more chance," he said, breaking away from her with a gasp.

"Ed!" Winry laughed and shook her head. "I told you, it doesn't matter!"

"Please," he whispered, rubbing his thumbs against her cheeks. Winry frowned and leaned towards him, as if she could tell his emotions better just by looking closer. "Please just let me get this right."

"Ed, I promise, I don't care—"

"I do."

His words were a whisper, but it still cut through Winry's words and left them in silence as she frowned at him. Ed knew that she was trying to figure out exactly what question to ask, trying to figure out what he was thinking. He almost laughed. Here he could literally tell what she was thinking just by her expression, and yet he was still trying to get a proposal right.

"I need to do this. Not for you. For me. My mom—"

His voice cracked on the words, and he squeezed his eyes shut as he fought off the wave of grief squeezing at his insides. Winry's hand was against his arm, pressing against him as he sucked in a slow breath. When he started speaking again, he kept his eyes shut, his head bowed.

"My mom was always sad she didn't have a romantic proposal story from my dad. She always made sure to make this big deal out of telling us she loved him anyway and didn't have regrets, but... But she also loved sappy stuff like that. She used to do this thing where she would make up the most ridiculous, over-the-top proposals ever. And she always talked about how she couldn't wait to live vicariously through Al and me when we proposed someday."

And then I went and fucked it up, he wanted to add, but bit his tongue. But it seemed like Winry knew what he was saying even without him saying it. She leaned in closer to him, running her hand through his bangs, and Ed finally forced himself to look up and meet her eyes. Her eyes were shiny, and he nearly wanted to kick himself. Here he was, going and making her cry and get upset yet again, because he couldn't seem to do anything else.

"You are not your dad, Ed," Winry whispered. Ed just stared at her with wide eyes, taking in a shaky breath. There must have been something that changed in the expression in his eyes, because Winry frowned and tightened her fingers in his hair. "I mean it. You're not him. And you haven't let your mom down, either."

His first instinct was to ask her how she could know such a thing, but the words got tangled around the lump in his throat, instead coming out as some sort of strangled whimper. Winry frowned and crawled into his lap before wrapping herself around him in a tight hug.

And apparently that was all it took to open the floodgates he had been fighting off ever since the beginning of the conversation. Ed clung to her like a lifeline and sobbed into her shoulder.

How was it possible to have something so wonderful, to have a person so absolutely amazing who was just taking care of him as best she knew how, and yet somehow still hurt this much? How was it that he always felt like there weren't any tears left for him to cry and then she could just come in and say two sentences that broke him so completely? How was it that even with all his analysis, even with hims desperately trying to figure it out, he somehow still didn't understand love? Because it didn't make sense. He had this deep parts inside him that hurt and ached, and somehow, she was still there, still loving him.

Edward Elric was not a religious man, but love was a fucking miracle, and he would die on that hill.

"Just one more time," he whispered. "I just... I want to try and get it right."

"You already did."

"I know, but..." He sighed, staring at his fingers as he ran them through her hair. "Just one more. Whether it's good or not. I'll find a way to propose, and no matter how it turns out, we can get married right afterwards. Then there's no reason for me to try and propose again."

Winry chuckled and nuzzled her face against his neck. "Ed, you'll just put it off forever because you're a perfectionist. We'll never get married that way."

"Okay, then I'll do it this week."

"This week?" Winry pulled back and looked at him then, a smirk on her face. "You'll propose this week and then we'll get married right afterwards?"

"Uh..." Ed frowned. "Weddings can't be planned that quickly, can they?"

"Ed, if you're willing to marry me this week, I'll find a way to plan it!" Winry said with a laugh. "You just call anyone you want to come and make sure to plan that proposal, because in a week you're going to be a married man!"

And so the countdown was on.

Winry was actually gracious and gave him a few extra days in addition to the week he already had, saying she wanted to have the wedding on Saturday, not in the middle of the week. Which meant they suddenly had a wedding date: May 3rd.

Ed found himself still stumbling as he desperately tried to come up with a proposal that he could somehow pull off in a week while also making it more elaborate than every other proposal he had done so far. So he decided to instead focus on the things that he already knew, things that were easy and absolute. Things like calling the million people he was sure would yell at him if he didn't call them. He was just grateful Al was already in town, because there wasn't much chance Al could have gotten all the way back to Resembool in a week otherwise. Because Ed knew his younger brother would have killed him if he had gotten married without Al there. But there was still a mile-long list of people who would want to know about the wedding. And a week was too soon to send out formal invitations.

"So, bastard, what are you doing next Saturday?"

There was a long sigh from the other side of the phone. "I was planning on relaxing, why?"

"You know where's a great place to relax? Resembool. We've got rolling green hills, peace and quiet... Hey, I know. You could ask for a couple days off, take a train out—"

"Why would I put my entire life on hold for a spontaneous vacation, Fullmetal?" Ed smirked against the phone while Mustang talked. Sure, the man talked a big game, but he was still putting off paperwork to talk with Ed in the first place. "I know you're really enjoying retirement, but some of us still have jobs, you know. What's the rush? Resembool will wait."

"True, true," Ed hummed. "Ah, well, if you're that busy, I guess you don't have to be a groomsman, then. Enjoy your weekend, Colonel."

The resulting spluttering from the phone would be a memory Ed would treasure for the rest of his life. The only regret he had was not setting up a tape recorder before he called Mustang.

The rest of the phone calls went in a similar manner, with Ed telling everyone to either come out in a week or miss out. Which then usually resulted in people spluttering and wondering why he couldn't just wait at least a little longer for people to come out. To which Ed would respond that life was too short to waste any more time not married to the love of his life than he already had. More than one person was convinced he had gotten Winry pregnant and they were trying to get pregnant before she started showing.

One thing Ed knew for certain about the proposal was that he had to figure out some sort of foolproof way to actually express his feelings without sticking his foot in his mouth. Which was apparently a tall order, considering that he had written out his feelings, just like everyone had said to do, and he had still managed to mess it up.

Ed told himself that it was clearly just because he had forgotten to bring along his notes. He couldn't count on being able to remember them, or even just being able to improvise from an outline. No, no. if there was a way to stick his foot in his mouth, clearly, he was going to find a way to do it, come hell or highwater. The only way he would avoid that would be if he managed to write out the proposal exactly as he wanted to say it and then read it off notecards like a schoolkid. Maybe if he had more than a week, he could actually memorize it, but it would have to do.

The next sticking point was what to use as some sort of ring replacement. Clearly rings weren't ideal for someone who was constantly working so hard with their hands, but Ed wasn't sure what else to use. He also needed to have something in his hands, or obviously he would just end up pointing at her like he was in a courtroom again.

Thankfully, inspiration for a ring replacement was just around the corner when he went a town over to run errands for Winry. She was too busy to run and pick up an order she had placed months ago, and so Ed volunteered to spend a day running to get it, knowing that getting out would help clear his head. And sure enough, there was the answer he had been waiting for, just sitting in the jewlery shop window. Ed suddenly knew exactly what to do.

Meanwhile, watching Winry try to plan a wedding in a week left Ed even more in awe of her than he already was, which he hadn't even thought was possible. Somehow she knew what needed to be done and managed to arrange for a field for them to use, told everyone who was coming to bring a dish for a potluck, got some local musicians who agreed to provide music, and arranged with a neighbor for tables and chairs. It was frantic and stressful, but oddly, it was still coming together perfectly anyway.

Kind of like them.

The only thing left to arrange was the actual wedding clothes, which Pinako promised to take care of, saying it was her wedding present. Ed sorely doubted it was the only present she planned on giving the two of them. But when she brought down Sara Rockbell's wedding dress from the attic, he suddenly understood. The dress needed a few minor alterations in order to fit Winry, and of course she wouldn't want anyone else touching a family heirloom. One of the spare rooms was made into an impromptu fitting room with mirrors for Winry and Pinako to admire the dress. Ed, meanwhile, hadn't been allowed in to see what was going on, told instead to work on actually taking care of the proposal before he was out of time.

"You," Pinako said, pointing her pipe at Ed as she came out of the room. She then held up the kind of long flat box that always indicated clothing. "I have something for you too."

"Don't worry about it, Granny, I already have a suit that's fitted and everything." Ed grinned and waved her off. He wasn't particularly fond of the thing, but he somehow kept getting invited to formal occasions that necessitated stuff like suits and manners. Now he was suddenly grateful it had been sitting waiting for him.

"Winry has something from her parents," Pinako grunted. "Don't you want something from yours?"

Ed had a sudden image of himself at his wedding but wearing Hohenheim's suit, and he felt the blood drain from his face. "You know, I really don't think I need to wear something of Hohenheim's—"

"I wasn't talking about him," Pinako said, throwing the box at Ed. He caught it as it hit his chest and looked at it with a frown. "You have two parents, fool."

When he opened the box, there was a simple waistcoat and tie in it. He had a plain waistcoat and red tie he normally wore with his suit, but the one in the box was definitely more suited to a spring wedding, with its soft pastel color. It almost wouldn't have been recognizable if that particular shade of lilac hadn't been burned into Ed's mind. It was the color of safety, warmth, warm food, and bedtime stories. It was the color of mom.

"You had one of her old dresses?"

"Course I did," Pinako grunted. "Someone had to deal with all the adult aspects of grieving when you boys weren't looking. I figured someday you'd stop trying to burn down your past and would actually turn around to face it."

Ed wasn't able to choke out a thanks, but the way he clutched the waistcoat and tie to his chest was all Pinako needed to see anyway.

The only thing left was the proposal.

He knew he was taking chances he shouldn't by doing it, but Ed left the proposal until the morning of the wedding. He knew there was every chance the morning could get hectic immediately and he would ending up missing his final chance, but he was determined. It was the best day to do it. He would have to find a way to do it, somehow. Winry even commented as she went to bed for the night that he hadn't managed to actually get a proposal done before the deadline, and Ed wondered if she was trying to prod him into doing it right then and there.

"Unless I do it tomorrow morning," he said with a smirk. She had laughed and shrugged at that, clearly believing that he was just procrastinating until the last possible minute. Which, well, he was, but for good reason.

He wasn't able to sleep through most of the night, even though he kept telling himself he needed to. He didn't want to forever look back on pictures of his own wedding with him looking like a tired gremlin. But he still couldn't manage to sleep. He knew Winry wouldn't turn down his proposal, knew the wedding would go smoothly enough. Hell, he and Winry were so adaptable that he was sure they could handle whatever disaster might happen. But he still couldn't manage to sleep.

Which meant he was up with the sunrise when he heard Winry's padded footsteps creeping through the living room.

"You're up early," he called out without moving from his spot on the sofa. The footsteps stopped.

"You're one to talk."

He sat up then, looking over the back of the sofa and flashing Winry a grin. "Couldn't sleep."

"Me either." Winry grinned back at him, and it positively radiated off her. "Coffee?"

"Coffee," Ed agreed with a nod.

He followed her into the kitchen, and a familiar thrumming started up in his toes and fingers.

Do it do it do it do it do it do it

This was maybe the last quiet moment they would ever have alone again until they were married. Once the rest of the world woke up, there would be people at the door wanting to help carry food and arrange tables and get directions and a million other things. They would each get whisked away to get prepared separately because apparently no one was willing to let him see Winry in a particular dress for fear of bad luck,which seemed like a pretty ridiculous rule, honestly. Ed was firmly of the opinion that if bad omens actually meant anything, they were already in enough trouble for it not to matter. But he wasn't the one in charge of the wedding dress arrangements. He was in charge of the proposal and the guests. And the guests were already taken care of.

As Winry prepared the coffee, he came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, settling his chin on her shoulder. He actually had to slouch a little just to do it, which was just further proof that miracles were real.

"Hey, I've got a present for you," he murmured in her ear. Winry turned to look at him with an amused frown.

"What kind of present?"

He dug into the pocket of his bathrobe and pulled out the box he had shoved in there the night before, earning a grin from Winry. Ed decided to stay right where he was cuddling her, because he was sure that if he put space between them, the nerves would come crashing back down on him. he couldn't afford to have nerves and embarrassment make him clam up this time. It had to be right this time.

Winry gasped as she opened the box to reveal a shining silver wasn't the sort of pocket watch that opened like the one he'd had, but rather the face was always revealed, alone with a small hole in the face that showed off the gears inside. Ed grinned as she traced a finger over the watch in an almost reverent way.

"I figured you could use a watch you can take apart whenever you want."

"I'm never taking this apart," Winry breathed, and Ed laughed.

"We'll see how long that lasts. Look at the back."

Winry snorted at him, but still obliged and turned the watch over in its box, revealing the carefully carved words on the back cover.

Don't forget
.19

Her smile was immediate, and she traced a finger over the words. "Oh, Ed. For the wedding. That's so sweet."

"And... for something else." Ed let go of her, and just like he thought, the nervousness suddenly hit him like a ton of bricks. Fuck, he was actually doing this, huh? Why did it feel so terrifying when he was literally marrying Winry in a few hours? She turned to look at him, and he got down on one knee.

"Ed—" Winry stared at him with wide eyes, suddenly clutching the watch to her heart.

Ed suddenly remembered that he'd gotten a watch in the first place so he would actually have a prop to keep himself from pointing at her again. Dammit. At least pointing was a lot more awkward when he was already halfway to the floor. Actually, everything felt a lot more awkward. There was something oddly terrifying about being in such a vulnerable position while Winry looked down on him. His mouth went dry. Crap. He'd had words.

"I wanted to remember the day I finally got things right," he croaked out, and Winry made a little whimper of a sound.

That was the only sentence he had memorized, though. And now he was on the kitchen floor in a bathrobe looking ridiculous. Here this was meant to be The proposal, and somehow he had forgotten that bathrobes and tiled kitchen floors weren't exactly the pinnacle of romance. But. At least he wasn't yelling. Or pointing. And he had already prepared in advance for if the words went flying out of his mouth again. He scrambled for the notecards in his other pocket.

"Winry," he started, and looked up to Winry, his eyes connecting with hers. She was looking at him with that sort of expression like she was only an inch away from crying. And then his throat closed up, the notecards shaking in his hand. Ed would have screamed at himself if it weren't for the fact that apparently, his mouth was suddenly incapable of making sound.

Really? Really? Of all the times to suddenly lose nerve, it couldn't have been the million other times he had spoken without thinking, oh no. No, it had to be the time he had actually planned and put effort into it and had tried to find a way around every potential problem. Ed hadn't counted on his body just giving up on him in the face of nervousness. He stammered a few times, making strangled sounds that very much reminded him of a certain train station proposal, until eventually he just gave up, handing the notecards to Winry with a sigh.

Winry, you'll have to forgive me for reading from a script, but this is the only way I know of to make sure I actually say something that doesn't sound ridiculous the instant it comes out of my mouth. Because I know that even as I'll be trying to propose to you, you'll be right there being your usual amazing self and leaving me speechless. Because honestly, there isn't a combination of words I could string together that would even measure up to being half as amazing and awesome as you are. And words that can somehow express how much I love you, how absolutely shocking it is that I could even know someone as amazing you, that I could even have a chance of spending my entire life with you? I could have a million years to come up with words to describe my love for you, and I don't think I could even capture a thimble of water from the ocean that is my love for you. So forgive that these are the best words I know instead—

When she paused and looked up at him, she had tears streaking down her cheeks. And he knew she had reached the point where he hadn't been able to write the words, worried about if Winry found the notes before he was ready. The point where had figured that of course he would remember what to say next.

"Will you marry me?" Ed croaked.

Words seemed to have left Winry too, because all she was able to do was throw herself into his arms as she started crying in earnest.

They hadn't even managed to pick themselves up off the floor when there was a sudden crack of thunder from outside, and suddenly they were both scrambling to their feet. It was like watching a faucet turn on as they looked out the window and saw the rain suddenly drop to the ground in a sheet. Winry stared out the window with wide eyes.

"I forgot about tents," she whispered.

"So, to be clear," Ed said with a snort. "Is this the bad luck that we were supposedly avoiding by me not seeing you in the dress, or...?"

He knew it was serious when Winry only did a whimper of a laugh in response to him. Ed threw his arm over her shoulders and pulled her against him.

"It's okay, Win. We've handled way worse than this together," he murmured. "Rule two. Don't panic. It'll probably be letting up in a few hours. We can just grab some materials and then I can— I mean. Al can transmute some shelter."

"But what about the ceremony?" Wiry said, frowning and gesturing at the window. "No one will even be able to hear us over that thunder! Let alone if it's even safe for everyone to be out in that!"

"Win, it's okay," Ed said, turning her so she was facing him and putting both his hands on her shoulders. "You've handled all the other stuff, let me get this one. Emergencies are kind of my specialty. Besides, the librarian owes me a favor."

Thankfully, a library in a small town on a Saturday afternoon wasn't really busy in the first place, especially not when most of the town already had the Rockbell-Elric wedding on their minds. The biggest problem was just trying to make sure there would be enough room for everyone to actually see Ed and Winry. They would all have to stand, but it was still better than trying to manage through the worst of the sudden thunderstorm.

The next few hours passed in a blur, trying to hastily rearrange things and direct guests to the new location. Sure enough, Ed had been absolutely right about that moment being their last quiet moment before they were married. It seemed like everywhere he turned, there was someone else asking for his direction or trying to wish him congratulations, and he somehow didn't even know where Winry was through the whirl of chaos.

Before he knew it, Ed was standing among the bookshelves, closing his eyes and trying to breathe as Al readjusted his tie for him. Because apparently, he had been too nervous to tie it right. Al had a matching lilac vest and tie of his own, and it made Ed wonder if maybe Pinako had seen this coming sooner than even he and Winry had.

The one image that Ed was sure would always be burned into his memory from that day was when he finally caught sight of Winry in her wedding dress standing among the books. She was ethereal, almost glowing. Like she was some sort of angel of knowledge, though he didn't dare say that aloud when it already sounded corny in his head.

Even with the sudden thunderstorm, Ed was tempted to say that it was almost more perfect that they had ended up in the library. It was the place where he had always felt safe and at home. Not to mention it was a place where he and Winry could find common ground. It didn't matter whether you were interested in alchemy or automail books at a library. What mattered was sitting and reading together anyway.

And what better way to start a marriage than a place that represented safety and the spot where both their passions intersected? Ed didn't want to say it out loud, but it almost seemed like things were working out even better than they had originally planned.

At least, that was what he thought, standing there in what he knew would turn into those golden-tinted memories, until the officiant turned to him and said, "You can say your vows now."

Vows. Fuck.

He'd already gone and fucked up so many proposals just because he'd spoken off the cuff, and he hadn't thought to actually plan what he was going to say when they actually got to the part of exchanging vows? He could vaguely remember mentioning something to Winry about not wanting the usual script because it seemed too stiff, but then he had gone and not actually prepared vows after saying that? He was going to look ridiculous, and there was no chance of redos with this one. Ed stammered and looked at Winry with wide eyes.

And suddenly, the world stopped spinning. She was just... Winry, holding his hands and looking at him with a grin that seemed to take up almost her entire face. He had been calling her his wife for months, but it suddenly hit him just how big that was. This was who he was going to spend his life with. This was his forever.

And suddenly, the words came.

"A hundred percent," he murmured, squeezing her hands. Wait, no, you're starting at the end again, weirdo. No one knows what you're talking about unless you explain it. Ed sighed and took a deep breath.

"I've been an alchemist all my life," he started, licking his lips. "So I've always looked at the world kind of like an equation. You put something in, you get something out. So when I first tried to propose, I treated it the same way I treated everything. I looked at it like an alchemist and asked for half your life in exchange for mine. An you... You absolutely shocked me by saying you would give me all of it. Y'know, which you then amended to 85%."

Winry blushed, and Ed could distantly recognize a snigger that was distinctly Mustang-flavored.

"I've thought about that ever since," Ed continued. "I knew that when we were together, it was like... Like we were more than the sum of our parts, like we were something more than just Ed and just Winry. I thought I had to give half of myself to get a whole, like I could figure out an alchemical equation to having a happy life. I didn't know how the idea of giving an entire life was supposed to fit into this world where equations are supposed to always balance out.

"But then I realized that I was looking at it wrong. I'm not just giving you half of my life and having you give me half of your life and then we add them together and boom, marriage. I'm giving you all of my life, and hoping you're willing to share your with me, and then we're combining that together and making something completely new and completely whole in itself. It's not about 'my' life anymore, it's about coming together as a team to make a life we share.

"We're beyond alchemy. We're doing the impossible," Ed said, unable to take his eyes off Winry. "So I promise to give you all of me. All my joy, all my pain, and all the times I stick my foot in my mouth despite my best intentions. I give you a hundred percent."

Silence fell over the room for a long moment as Ed stood there, squeezing Winry's hands and wondering if he'd done something wrong.

"I can't follow that," Winry finally said, her voice cracking as she reached up to wipe a tear away from the corner of her eye. "Gosh, Ed. I... A hundred percent from me too. Forever a hundred percent."

If there was only ever one time in his life where he could say things right off the cuff without managing to trip over himself, then Ed was sure he couldn't have picked a better time. Sometimes, there just wasn't a guidebook to make sure he was on the right track, to confirm that they were figuring out how to adjust to what life was supposed to be now.

But that was exactly why they were going to write their own guidebook.

fin.

Bonus: "You know, Ling was already upset enough that he wasn't able to get out here in time," Ed said, scratching at his chin as he looked around the gathering of people. "But I think he'll be even more upset when I tell him how big the potluck was."

I'm just going to avoid talking about the last chapter and the inspiration for this story and so forth, because if I start, it'll be too much. I have a lot of feelings about this story, lol. If you're curious and want to talk to me (or yell at me) you can come find me on tumblr at edisacornball.

Proposal count: 10 (plus one bonus proposal from Winry)